As is well known, the ancient city of Ugarit has yielded a corpus of some thirty texts and fragments that can be broadly classified under the genre of divination. These texts in turn belong to different subgenres (teratological omens, astrological omens, etc.). The available documentation shows a remarkable balance in the use of the two main languages (Akkadian and Ugaritic) and scripts (Mesopotamian logo-syllabic and cuneiform) employed by the scribes of Ugarit. Our paper will focus on several points, but especially on the review of the composition of the corpus, the analysis of the archaeological and archival context of the texts, and the reflection on the possible reasons for the use of one or the other language and script. The main objective will be to respond to the main theme of this workshop, which is to try to understand the function of these texts within the framework of Ugaritic culture. In this regard, our analysis will place greater emphasis on the alphabetic documentation, addressing both internal (e.g. linguistic) aspects and comparisons with other textual genres attested in Ugarit.
Légende de l’illustration : Modèle de foie divinatoire en argile (RS 24.326, Damas 6655).
